I noticed this too and I think I figured it out. The clone will spawn on whichever mob is closest to your cursor. otherwise it spawns next to you.

EDIT: small change, it seems to only function like this under certain conditions. CS will always behave like this. While under Epiphany mantra spam will behave like this. without Epiphany mantra spam drops the clones next to you. Tzo Krin's Gaze will cause bells to behave like this with or without Epiphany active.

how could you control the placement before? do you mean it was at least consistently by your character every time?

because at least now there is some semblance of control in terms of being able to place the clones near different mobs and/or placing them at range period. That to me is an improvement over the old system.

before they were totally uncontrollable and spawned randomly around your character, often times on the opposite side of where a mob was (usually issue vs RG) missing completely.

Much better how it is now vs before.

The problem is that the clones have taunt so if you have champions / elites that are spread out they stay spread out cuz your taunt keeps them in place. It requires alot of time to gather the mobs without cyclone and if they are ranged/chargers etc. you will have your clone doing single target dps and keeping the chargers away from your main pack alot of the time.

I'm loosing time on every single run, NOT what the monks need. They should maybe nerf the dmg of the clones alittle and include a "casts your cyclone strike" together with it to compensate. + Let the cylcone strike rune determine element